Genius Bulb

There are lots of criteria for judging plants, and many tests a plant must pass to be deemed truly remarkable. Here at Hortmag.com, I bring you a weekly “Plants We Love” article; to choose plants for it I check with experts across the country, from horticulturists to garden designers to just plain passionate gardeners. Sometimes I’ve grown the plant I’m featuring, so I have some personal experience of its greatness; but often I haven’t. I don’t want to limit the coverage to plants that grow in my climate, or in my relatively small garden!

But since this space is our blog, I feel free to mention a plant that I haven’t done any research on, aside from the fact that it’s been blooming in my garden for a week or so now. It is the ‘Professor Einstein’ daffodil, and I’m calling this a truly genius bulb for one reason alone—my husband noticed it on his way in one evening last week, and moreover, upon coming in the house he declared, quite incredulously, “Hey, that’s pretty.”

Just trust me—if this guy notices a flower and then also talks about it, that is one special plant.

Although, in the car yesterday he also blurted out, “There’s yellow stuff blooming everywhere. They look like fireworks.” I explained it’s forsythia.

I was really tempted to tell him how there’s actually a goldenrod cultivar named ‘Fireworks’, which will bloom in summer, but I bit my tongue. He’s noticed two plants in one week now, and I don’t want to scare him off.